Developing Systems That Work

In my fantasy life, I’m an organized guy. In the real world, that’s just not the case. I do my best to stay on top of things — I make lists, use a calendar, ask Kris for help — but there always seems to be something slipping through the cracks.

Before we left for Africa, for example, I hid my wallet. I always do this when we go on a long trip. (I don’t use my wallet when I travel.) And every time, I have trouble finding it when I get home. You’d think I’d develop a system — but no.

I’m not the only one with problems like this. Sure, there are folks out there like Kris and her sister — people who never let anything fall through the cracks — but they’re few and far between. Most of us need to develop systems to help our lives run smoothly.

Developing systems that work
I’ve read dozens of books on time management, coping with clutter, and getting things done. But I’ve never found a magic cure-all for disorganization. The trouble is, as with personal finance, there’s no one right answer. Each of us is different. We have different strengths, different weakness, and different aims in life. There’s no one system that’s going to work for every person.

When something becomes routine, it becomes a natural part of your life. It’s not something you have to force yourself to do. It’s almost automatic, which makes it easier to do the right thing instead of letting your emotions get the better of you.

I’ve also had great success by foisting my routines onto the poor, unsuspecting computers around me. Automation helps my systems run smoothly.

The Power of Automation
When I was younger, I had a heck of a time remembering to pay my bills on time. Even when I had a set routine — for years, I paid bills on the first Saturday of every month — I’d sometimes forget to follow it. So, whenever I find a way to automate some part of my life, I do it.

Removing me from the equation just makes thing run so much more smoothly. That’s why I’ve spent the past several years developing a paperless personal-finance system, which includes:

Automatic saving. Every month, I have money automatically transferred to my savings accounts. (Remember, I keep multiple savings accounts to pursue different goals.)

Automatic investing. Well, I don’t actually do this now — I’m making manual investments at the end of every tax year — but for a long time, my retirement accounts automatically pulled from my paycheck and/or checking account.

This automation is an essential part of my financial system. It helps prevent stupid errors — like forgetting to pay a bill before vacation. Plus, I’ve found the automation keeps me motivated. The money for my bills is going to be pulled on specific dates, so I’d better be sure my accounts are funded.

The Power Simplicity
Simplicity is a final key to most of my successful systems.

The reason David Allen’s Getting Things Done system never worked for me is that it’s too bloody complicated. It’s a system that requires maps and a flowchart, files and folders, and plenty of time. I’m sure it works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me. (Or hasn’t, anyhow, the three times I’ve tried to implement it.)

I’ve developed my own alternative to Getting Things Done. I carry a notebook with me. Whenever I need to remember something, I write it down. Whenever I get a new task or appointment, I add it to the bottom of my daily list. As I complete tasks, I cross them off the list. Every morning, I copy this list onto a new page, and begin adding things to the bottom again. Simple. This is a system that works for me. And it works because it’s mostly transparent.

Simple financial systems seem to work best for me, too. I don’t want to spend a lot of time picking stocks or researching retirement accounts. Some folks juggle six different credit cards to maximize their rewards; I have one debit card and one credit card. Anything more makes my brain hurt. The best kinds of systems are those that don’t seem like systems at all. They just become a natural part of the way I live my life.

Note: On Monday, April wrote about her quest to find an expense-tracking system that works for her. She, too, is drawn to simplicity.

Conclusion
Even with the systems I’ve created, I still have trouble sometimes. I lose my wallet or forget to pay a bill. There’s always another improvement to be made. But systems reduce the frequency and impact of these user errors.

I’d love to hear about some of the systems you use to keep your financial life running smoothly. Have you found that there are certain features in common among your successful systems? Or are you one of the lucky few who can get by without using any sort of organizational system at all?

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Financially, I’m all about automation and routine. Wherever possible, recurring bills are paid by direct debit or standing order (automated bill payment). Budgeting is achieved by a set cash amount (Â£50) that I take out on Saturdays and has to last me the week. Anything left over on Friday night goes in the “jar”, which is theoretically my “play money”, but doesn’t quite work as I forget to pull card transactions out of it. Note to self: find a way of making this routine. This doesn’t blow my budget though, as I am very strict about what I put on card, and knowing I’ve got the cash to cover it.

In non-financial life, I’m all about lists. I have a set of “master lists” on RememberTheMilk, from which I create written daily lists each day. I try to keep these realistic and no more than three items per day, so that it’s achievable. A lot of the item automatically recur, like “do paperwork” and “back up computer”, which helps stop things fall through the crack.

maybe this is off topic, but i’m surprised you only make your investments one time a year at tax time.

i make my contributions weekly (automatically). it seems like that works the best for dollar cost averaging. investing only once a year would seem like my investments depend heavily on market timing – not intended market time, but random timing

J.D.’s note: I do the once-a-year thing not because I think that’s best but because my income is irregular. (See my article about budgeting for an irregular income, if you’re not sure what I mean.) Doing it this way helps me budget. But you have a good point. Maybe instead of just lump-summing it I could spread it out over the course of the year following tax time…

Having a place for important things helps me stay organized. I have a mail keeper on the wall in my foyer. When I bring in the mail, I immediately put the important items in the keeper and the junk in the recycling bin.

When it’s time to pay bills or respond to something that came in the mail, it’s always in the same place. And I see it every time I walk out the door so it doesn’t fall off my mental tracking system.

What I find even more important is simplifying by not doing things that don’t need to be done. I’ve compulsively filed paid bills despite being able to get information online or from Moneydance if I need it. Not to mention the clutter that comes from piles of stuff to be filed.

I agree that having a mechanized routine is the best way to approach it. I put my keys, sunglasses, blackberry in the same place every time I come or go from the house. This way I always know where to find it and don’t have to waste valuable time. In fact, wasting time is one of my major pet peeves. I have so many things I’d rather be doing, that being organized is a must in order to achieve them.
I have direct deposit, automatic withdrawals set up to pay recurring bills, which are mortgage, garbage, electricity, phone and automatic contributions to 401k, Roth IRA, 529 and savings account. End of every week, I go into these accounts, update spreadsheets, check bills to make sure everything looks right and I’m done in about 10 minutes.
I don’t get any bills by paper and I’ve stopped all junk mail catalogs. I keep the paper shredder in the kitchen next to the paper recycling. It goes either into the shredder or into the bin and out the door on recycling day. The worms, in the basement, or the compost bin are the lucky recipients of the shredded paper. I’m doing something good for me and for the environment. Now I have more time to do the fun things than worry about the administrivia.

I agree with Jay on this one. Last year, I made modest monthly contributions to my retirement investments with the intention of topping it up at the end of the year. Looking back, I realized how much I would have gained if I had contributed more throughout the year. This year I changed strategies and am contributing more each month.

The 30 Day rule is also a habit to get in to, unless there’s an immediate need. Most of the time I find I lose interest or negative reviews end up putting me off, but sometimes I’ve found great sales by making it a rule to wait.

For finances, the one big thing that helps me stay organized is going through and handling the mail every day. If there are any bills in the pile, I log in to online banking, and register them for payment on the due dates. I also take a look at the bank’s summary of upcoming bill payments and account transfers to make sure that there is enough money in the account to cover everything.

I had a few weeks that were just crazy recently, with tons to do at work, a dog with an upset stomach that just wouldn’t settle (yes, talked to a vet about that, too), and dishes that seemed to just keep piling up at home, switching car insurance companies, and a slew of other things. Then, I let this particular part slip. The result was agony at the end of the month – were all bills registered for payment, or had I missed any? I think everything worked out, but it was nothing like the smooth ride it usually is.

I have definitely tried to make automated systems, but I always worry about automatic CC payments if I don’t have enough money in my checking account. Really, the basic system I use is setting a calendar reminder and then taking 2 minutes to double check each balance before paying. If I am out of town or unable to pay (unlikely), then it will automatically be paid the day it is due.

I use an automated savings plan too, but with investing I tend to be a little more proactive. I used to think the school of thought of investing in mutual funds passively, consistently was the way to go, but I’ve now come to believe that with a certain degree of effort, it’s possible to beat the market. I’ve been successful with this right now, but developing a fool-proof system for finding good investment opportunities is obviously the main limiting factor :)

I have a similar system. I use https://www.nirvanahq.com/ to track To Dos for the the various things I’m working. Every morning I review all the lists and add them to the list of things to get done today. I then copy that to a small pad I keep with me.

I add to the pad when things come up then move those to nirvana in the evening.

I also try to automate as much as I can, especially in relation to financial activities.

I know the theme you are asking us to consider is what systems work for us, but I keep going back to the central concept of a book I read about. (Sadly I don’t recall the title or the author, as I only read a synopsis of the book)

What the book said was that whenever we have a habit that we consider “bad” and want to change, we have to figure out what we are getting that’s good out of continuing the habit. For example, most people learn at an early age that nothing good comes out of touching a hot stove, so we don’t go around burning ourselves on purpose. Yet many of us continue with habits that basically sabotage the goals we’d like to achieve. With my own finances, the immediate gratification I got from buying something was the biggest positive I had to figure out how to replace. I’ve substituted the satisfaction of paying in cash and the fun of shopping for something over a few months as I save up for it in place of the rush of running out and putting something on plastic.

When it comes to paying bills on time, the “positive” that I was fighting against was the rush of motivation that I get when I realize I’m up against a deadline. As much as I claim to dislike it, it *is* more of an exciting feeling than calmly paying a bill the day after you get it. I had to develop replacement “thrills” into my process–now my thrill is checking up each week on my budget. I give myself a physical reward (which in this case is simply crossing paid bills off with a highlighter in my notebook), and work hard to come in each month under budget. In my case, that provides just enough excitement to help me keep up with that system.

mine’s simple too. i have also automated bill payment, saving and investment just like J.D. then i just keep a list of to-do things in todoist.com. the list includes just about everything i need to accomplish daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and even occasionally (like if there are bdays, weddings, reunions we need to attend). i’ve placed all my automated bank activities in that to-do list as well so i could quickly check if the automation did happen as i expected. then of course, the rest that needs manual intervention is in that list too so i could do them in a timely manner. imagine, even the regular maintenance i need to do with my a/c unit, electric fan and car are all in that to-do list. :) financial-wise, i’ve set up both the automated and non-automated tasks up until the end of the year. i just update the to-do list if something new comes up.

My only successful financial system for me has been an Excel spreadsheet that I sat down with my husband and created for our budget. I’ve been inputting every single expense we ever have into that thing for more than 4 years now. I love the fact that it forces me to look at our spending and only take about 90 minutes a month.

* The move to cloud-based computing is helping me become more organized. Before, I had bits and pieces of my life on many different machines. Now I use Google mail and calendar (can’t seem to make apps work for my life), and I use Dropbox to keep my files synced. By integrating these tools into my systems, I’ve made things run more smoothly.

* There are plenty of things in my life that need to be systematized. This article was actually inspired by our first grocery trip after we got back. I was buying cans of mandarin oranges, believe it or not, and I was surprised by how inexpensive they were at Trader Joe’s. They’re like half the price I usually pay. It made me realize that although I’ve written about price books before, I’ve never incorporated them into my own food-buying system. It may be worth my time to make a list of my staple foods — smoked salmon, refried black beans, egg substitute, canned fruit, and so on — and then compare prices at the four or five stores closest to me.

* I felt like this article was overly vague, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m thinking of systems in general, not just financial systems. And I have so many different systems in my life! (Even the word “system” seems vague.)

* As I try to improve myself, I’ve learned to make just one change at a time. Once I’m sure all of my systems are working, I can add another. It’s dangerous to try to change too many things at once; that leads to catastrophic failure for me! I’m just not a good multi-tasker.

* I still need a better system for e-mail. :)

Okay, I’m exhausted this morning. Jet lag still? Back to bed for a little while.

Love this post, because even though I write about organization, time management and productivity, I’m also not anywhere near “naturally” organized. I have to create systems and they have to be SIMPLE systems. I also have to build “checking in with my systems” into my routine or else they languish. For example, automated payments can cause me a HUGE problem if I don’t set aside time monthly to review them, because I’ll simply forget about them (Surprise! Your bank account has $500 less than you thought it did!)

I use a to-do/task list very similar to yours. It’s basically a running list, and I have a weekly dry-erase board that I assign certain tasks to each Sunday.

Pretty much all my spending money is cash, and I actually prefer paper bills to ebills or automated payments. I like having a visual reminder that something has to be attended to, and then the satisfaction of sitting down and working my way through a stack of bills is rewarding to me, even if it is more time-consuming.

I’ve also found that for a budget to work for me, I have to “spend” all my money or else I lose track of it. I guess I’m action-oriented? If money just stays in the account I put it in, I feel anxious; but if I “spend” it into savings, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

I was just thinking about this. Things have been a little crazy here lately, and some things have fallen through the cracks and I hate it. I need to take a couple hours and just get everything settled so I can have piece of mind. These last couple weeks have taught me that I am not nearly as ‘automated’ as I need to be.

One thing that totally affected my life was my key hook. We painted the laundry room and took down the key hook. For weeks, I never knew where my keys were. We finally put the hook back up and my life is much better. Such a simple thing, but why did we take so long to do it?

Right now, I have a folder for bills that haven’t been paid yet sitting on my desk. Bills that come in get placed in there until they’re paid, then they get filed.

I also use a combination of Mint and Google Documents to track when payments are due and what payments have been made. I sit down a few times a month and map out what bills are coming due when and how much money needs to be in my checking account (versus my savings account) to pay them.

It’s not a perfect system, but I’m hoping to improve on it as I pay off debts and have fewer individual monthly payments going out. And for right now, I feel like I still need to retain some level of control over my finances (versus complete automation) just because that awareness has been crucial in preventing me from overspending.

Well, I don’t really automate payments or anything. How I pay bills is to mail out the payment the day after it shows up at the house. I know it uses more paper and everything, but I know exactly how much money is left in all of my accounts before and after each bill is paid.

One of the important points that JD mentions here is taking the “me” out of systems. As humans, I think we are prone to forgetting, getting off on tangents and having weird thoughts and ideas popping into our heads that just distract us.

For me, most finance is automated. However, for other areas of life (work and personal), I prefer a good old fashioned hand written task list that I add to and cross off as I complete. I carry them with me at all times. Yes, it can get messy, but it works.

But, it still does not solve the problem of me standing in front of an open refrigerator staring at the shelves and wondering what it was I wanted to get out of it :)

About the wallet, JD? Why not put a reminder on your calendar, for a day or two after you get home from vacation, to pop up with a note about where you’ve left it? If you’re concerned about security, make it a coded clue that would mean nothing to anyone but yourself. (Frees up a couple brain cells to remember other, more important, things.)

I have a to-do list on my ical that has amazing powers of invisibility. Yes, it’s all there, but my brain tunes it out completely. Google calendars etc are even more easily forgotten.

Any suggestions for improving on this will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to attack the productivity front and my progress is spotty at best.

iCal does warn me well about upcoming appointments, etc. It’s the to-do part I haven’t figured out yet. When I think about it, I tend to use a whiteboard and sticky notes a lot for things to do. The whiteboard is fun– colors, doodles…. just not very useful when you’re mobile.

Also, I’ve seen the light about Mint: it’s free, **but it’s not good enough for me**. Too automated, lacks flexibility. So I’m switching to Quicken. No joke. I need manual control. The thing is, this is my year of getting obsessed with money, so I don’t need the cruise control: I need four-wheel drive and manual gears.

Payments: my system is to minimize the number of payments due. If you only need to remember 3 or 4 things it’s no hassle. When you reorganize, the elimination of clutter should be the first step. Oh yes, there’s a good law for all kinds of reorganizing: eliminate clutter first, organize second.

I signed up for mint.com to give “tracking your spending” another try. I still can’t make it useful for me. Here’s a screenshot where I fail totally at budgeting:http://tylerkaraszewski.com/mint.png

I don’t know what to do with it. Any hints? Give up again?

Otherwise, I try to keep things simple. My to-do list is in my head, it’s two or three items long, and it’s prioritized. Something only gets on the list if it’s one of the most important things I need to do. Otherwise, it falls off the list and I assume someone will remind me about it eventually. I always use things like automatic bill pay because then I never have to put those little things on my mental to-do list.

Today’s list has exactly one entry:
1) Get wisdom teeth taken out.

That’s it. Nothing else matters today as long as that gets done.

It’s easy to remember one or two things, and you don’t have to learn a list-management system, and you don’t need to read a whole book on “GTD” or anything. I get plenty of things done.

I also always put my wallet in the same place: on the bench by the big window that looks over the backyard. It always goes there, and I always know where to look for it. No one has ever broken into my house and stolen it from there.

I have plenty more I could add, but need to get ready to go. Maybe later I can add a follow-up post while high on vicodin.

JD- you should read the book the checklist manifesto. Its all about how various industries develop checklists which help prevent routine errors.

Your desire to automate seems like a sort of checklist, you set up the automation to help prevent errors. Maybe using a checklist to deal with more of the business areas of your life will help with organization. (Of course I read the book and vowed to put it into practice. That was last summer….)

1. Any fixed cost recurring bill (car, mortgage, etc.) that can be paid is paid via my bank’s bill pay
2. Any other bill is paid through my bank as well. As soon as I get the email that a bill is available, I schedule it for payment. Paper bills are placed on my keyboard until they are paid.
3. On payday (twice a month) I check to make sure I have received and plan to pay all expected bills by looking at my checking account history. *Bills are the only thing I use my checking account for.*
4. All non-bills are paid for with a credit card. When I say all, I mean ALL. Even if I go for fast food, it goes on the card. I do keep a little cash on me just in case but I do everything I can not to spend it.
5. Everything is tracked via Mint. Because I use my credit card, this is easy. I check Mint every payday to make sure bills are put into the correct category.

Now here is the gotcha. When I want to spend on something that is non-normal (normal being things like groceries and gas), I check Mint on my phone. If I don’t have the money budgeted, I don’t spend it.

I totally agree, we all have to find what works for us as individuals. I’ve gotten a system together after years of tinkering.

Personally, I *hate* automation, and auto bill pay definitely doesn’t work for me (I tried it a couple of times). I love sitting down with my pen and checkbook and paying bills. I find it deeply satisfying to get the paper bill, open it, compare my electrical or gas usage or whatever and then do the online bill pay. I’m never late.

I also think your “simple and transparent” notebook method sounds complicated and murky — to me! I use an envelope system for my weekly expenses — pet food and supplies (litter, flea meds), car stuff (gas, oil changes, wiper blades), and me stuff (food, haircuts, books, coffee). This extremely simple thing (well simple to me like writing in your notebook is simple to you) — of just divvying up my weekly allowance into envelopes — has totally changed my spending habits. I stay completely on track. I do not overspend, I do not take money out of other envelopes, and I always have enough money for gas and pet food and human food.

OK, hopelessly behind the times here because I still write and mail paper checks, but it’s what has worked for me for decades and I feel very in control.

That being said, all bills when the come in go onto the corner of the piano. After two or three days, they go upstairs to the bill drawer. Once a month, everything is sorted out, all the bills are paid, and checks are mailed. I also write checks for bills that I know are coming and put them aside until the bill shows up.

Old school? Definitely. But familiar and comfortable and workable for me.

Love the debt snowball method, that’s been a big help for me, thank you!

I’ve been trying to use the 30 day rule to control my impulsive spending, but I put these items (mostly cooking tools) on a list – I’ve tried paper, notebook, using an email folder, and an online wishlist. Unfortunately, every time I find myself using the list as a to do list forcing myself to go buy these things – so now something I wanted to buy has now become an urgent, costly (and weirdly stressful) errand. That’s not right.
Any suggestions?
Any other methods for impulse spending control that I should try?

I have a really simple system when it comes to getting things done and tracking spending. I carry I monthly/weekly planner. The one I have has a spot for appointments/notes for each day and a to do list area as well. I have $200 for each pay period that I allow myself to spend on anything that is not a planned expense and not an emergency. I write down my expenses in the notes part, and subtract that from my running tally each day. Items that aren’t routine end up on the to do section. This is the best I’ve found for me.

As for bills, I have an excel spreadsheet that has a worksheet for each month. I have my normal planned expenses, and other planned expenses set up there as well as which pay day comes within the due date. I pay bills on each pay day and mark which have been paid. I think I spend about 30 min – hour a month dealing with my finances this way.

O, as a busy single mother with a > full time career, I’m a HUGE fan of habits/routines. They let me live my life without anything going off the tracks, and I love how it totally frees up my mind to think about other things.

Everything in my house always goes in its exact same place every single time (phone, keys, purse, kids’ phones, kids’ school ID cards, gym clothes, homework, permission slips blah blah blah) You could seriously go insane trying to keep track of all of it otherwise.

Every single day the first thing I do is make sure everything we brought into the house is put into it’s “place” (or thrown out). I go through the mail and sort out the bills or other home business correspondence and toss them onto my computer to pay/deal with when I turn it on that evening. (I use online bill pay but I’d never use any autopay system (except for my mortgage where I had to to get the best rate)–I like to realize what I’m spending & there’s too much chance of billing errors with those things).

I add to a grocery list during the week when I realize I’m out of something & I shop from it once per week. I fill up with gas at the same time about every other week. Simple.

My paycheck is direct deposited with investments and savings and my mortgage payment automatically deducted. Almost everything else I spend is on 1 credit card that I monitor online during the month and pay off in full each month. I never take money from an ATM–I plan ahead and get cash if I need it directly from the teller at the bank.

I don’t use lists anymore—making lists is actually very time consuming, and it’s also time consuming to look at the lists and you still haven’t done anything even if you do all that. Not helpful!

Instead, I set reminders on my phone or computer’s calendar, and when a reminder comes up, I do that thing. Such as “make appointment with accountant about taxes” on a day in March, or “check new rates on CDs” a few days before when I know a CD is coming due.

The one area I really, truly struggle with is making time to actual update my budget & record transactions.

When I get up I’m rushing around getting kids ready for school & me ready for work. When I get home from work, I’m cooking dinner, spending time with the kids, cleaning, making the next day’s lunches. By the time I’m done with that, I’m too tired to bother with anything requiring brainpower. My husband goes to night school all week so I don’t have much help.

Anyone in a similar situation with suggestions on how to make routine time for financial stuff, and stick with it?

One of the best things to come out of my marriage (I’m soon-to-be-divorced) is my USAA credit union account. My ex was in the Army when we got married and I can keep my accounts unless I remarry.

I have a few key bills that auto deduct, but most I use USAA bill pay system to pay. I probably hand write three checks a year for odd expenses.

I also keep a note book where I have each pay date (I’m paid 26 times a year) with a list of the bills/deductions that should come out of that paycheck that I use to double check that everything has been paid. This system has helped me ensure that nothing has been missed. For instance, my student loans have
an annual agreement and least year they did not contact me to renew my agreement, but my notebook system allowed me to catch it.

As someone who is new to experimenting with frugality and is in the practically-religious stage of going debt free and financial planning, I currently have a budget that does not allow for a lot of wiggle room. So my new system to make sure I don’t overspend, is to review my bank account each weekend, subtract what bills are do before my next payday and come up with a number that I can safely take out of my account before the next pay day. Then I write that number on a post it note and stick it on my debit card.

This prevents me from accidentally taking too much out of my account via the ATM or spending too much because I have to look at the number. No more crossing my fingers before my next check is deposited. It really works for me.

I found a fantastic mac list program called ‘iGTD’ (stands for Getting Things Done). It allows you to sync with your ipod etc so that you have a digital version of your lists wherever you go. When I found it it was free, since then they have added more features, but it is still available for download for free here (http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/). I am a freelancer, so it helps me to track spending as well as checks owed to me from various companies. I hope that you all enjoy!

Ah, the ‘safe place’. As a child I was forever putting things in ‘a safe place’ so I wouldn’t lose them. It was consistently so safe that I wouldn’t find them till years later. Then I met my husband, and we bought an ACTUAL safe. Much better!
My husband seems to be much better about remembering where things are than me. I need the routine of things always being in the same place. Of course, maybe he’s so good at it, because I always move his stuff to the same place?

I’m a fan of Routine and Simplicity, but automation isn’t for me. I like to get my hands on things.

And it seems like it would take just as much time to *verify* automatic banking transactions as it does to set up the payments & transfers and click Send.

Re: vagrant wallets, etc. over on Unclutterer they have an acronym, PEEP: a Place for Everything and Everything in its Place. As KM says, putting an item in the same place every single time it’s used quickly becomes a routine.

One must first, however, determine that the chosen place is actually optimal in terms of obviousness & efficiency. The archetypal entry or mudroom with coat rack, boot rack, and key hooks comes to mind. Same principle applies for paperwork or for to-do’s.

A couple of people have touched on this, but one big “aha” moment for me was when I started using Outlook task lists that pop up reminders on certain days. “Has x person responded to message re: project?”, or “Start preparing for meeting next week,” and things like that. For my personal life, I use the fact that Google lets you set up lots of calendars to make one specifically for tasks so I can have it email me reminders. For example, I added one that says “Check on 401k rollover” for about two week from now because just I mailed in paperwork that will take a little time to process. Google’s task list doesn’t have the email reminder feature, so I find it pretty useless.

This lets me stop worrying about things I need to do but not yet, or when I’m waiting for someone to get back to me about something. I don’t have to keep thinking “I need to check on my 401k rollover” or “I have that important meeting in early May” if I don’t really need to be doing something about those things right now, and I don’t need to keep emails in my inbox or items on my to-do list about them.

I’m not a full GTD adopter, but this idea of getting this sort of thing out of my head and into a system comes from there, and it’s been tremendously helpful.

I pay all monthly bills automatically, even those that fluctuate slightly; I used mint to find my average, then bumped it up slightly, so that at the end of the year I can do one manual payment and have extra spending money freed up for the holidays.

I still get paper bills, however, so I am reminded to check the balances and charges and make sure everything is correct.

I have one filing box for all my bills and papers. When I start having trouble adding paper, I’m forced to go through and shred documents that are no longer needed.

Keys, bag and mail go in the same place when I get home. We live in a small condo so there is just no room for stuff. I keep a bag for Goodwill in the front closet and toss things in throughout the month, then drop it off.

I do most of my errands during the weekend. I keep a list of tasks on an index card and organize them by location, to make the most efficient use of my time. I also do a lot of bulk cooking on the weekend so during the week there are no obstacles to my work, getting to the gym, and eating right.

In organization as in other things, the perfect is the enemy of the good. For years I balked at doing an auto payment for those slightly fluctuating bills, thinking that it would be terrible to overpay by a few dollars each month to cover the higher months later. It’s really no skin off my back and I’m not losing thousands of dollars of interest somewhere else. It has taken one more thing off my plate and those all add up. In the same vein, I no longer agonize over purchase decisions (when I do decide to buy something new). I’ll do some research, but have let go of the idea that if I spend enough time I’ll find the perfect solution. It’s not worth the time and stress, as long as I’m not buying on impulse.

I just have to say that I am totally with you on updating your finance tracking software manually! I like to see the transactions that are being posted to my account so that I know right away if there’s fraudulent activity or if there’s been some mistake. I have actually caught a couple of fraudulent charges over the years that I may never have noticed if I didn’t look at each transaction individually. I also have a friend who had a small $9.99 charge added to their credit card every month for six months without taking notice of it, since they didn’t look over the individual transactions on their statements very often. They were able to get it refunded, but what if they hadn’t noticed it until 2 years down the road? Those small charges add up, and the longer they went without noticing, the less likely they were to get it refunded.

I use Mint simply to get a weekly overview of where all of my accounts stand. I like to get a quick glance at everything via one email. Once a month, I sit down, look at all of my accounts, bills, etc and make sure everything is in order. I also make a quick list of financial to-do items for that month.

In other areas of my life, I’ve found that a small bowl by the door is perfect for keys (small enough to prevent the dumping of other items); I use a file drawer for important papers, organized by subject and/or family member; and I got a bunch of very helpful tips from The Happiness Project book, which I’m currently trying out – like the 10-minute evening clean-up, which turns out to make my life SO much easier in the morning. I am also testing the old-fashioned method of having a chore per day. For example, laundry gets done on Fridays and grocery shopping on Mondays. And, whenever possible (and when the deals are good) I order things like paper towels and detergent from Alice.com or other sites. This means I rarely have to run out at the last minute to pick up things we use all the time.

This is my first time posting. I started reading this blog about a year ago when my law school loans went into repayment and it’s helped me come up with a great GRS-inspired system for keeping my finances in order! My husband and I just went on a 2 week trip with intermittent internet access and everything ran smoothly.

We have two incomes and three bank accounts (one savings and two checking). Our 401(k) contributions are of course automatically withdrawn pre-tax. My paycheck is deposited into savings and twice a month, a transfer is made into our “fixed expenses” checking account. From this account, our fixed bills (student loan payments, internet, gym, rent, Roth IRA contributions) are withdrawn. Our savings build up a little each month because my 2 paychecks each month add up to more than the total of our fixed expenses.

My husband’s paycheck goes into the other checking account which is for “flexible expenses.” We put almost all our expenses on credit cards and we are really good about not exceeding our budgeted maximum for flexible expenses. (We use Mint to help us keep track of our spending and use the budget category “everything else” for the flexible expenses. That’s granular enough for our purposes, although we do ensure that all transactions are correctly categorized so that we can analyze our spending when we want to.) We pay off the entire balance on each of our cards the day the billing cycle closes. There is always a significant amount of money “leftover” in this account at the end of the month and we put that towards the student loans.

I hope I didn’t make this sound more complicated than it is- it’s really simple and requires minimal effort!

I love automation! I only have two checking accounts (one I use as my savings account, since it’s currently getting 3% interest), and I organize everything through YNAB (You Need A Budget) to separate things out (like saving for a car, paying off student loans, etc.). I automatically have money taken out of my account for my Roth IRA, so I don’t even have to worry about it.

But I’m just like you with tracking. I still track everything by hand, then compare them to the transactions online. That helps me catch any transactions I might not have placed.

I also automate my finances, everything from savings to paying bills. The only exceptions are taxes and my every-60-days re-balancing of my investments.

Staying organized is tough. The one thing I’ve found is that you have to spend time (and usually some money) developing a system that works for you. When I first started, I thought that a couple of folders in a plastic filing drawer and an in-box on my desk (the usual suggestions) were all I needed. But these things were such a pain to use (and so contrary to how I worked) that it actually discouraged me from using them. When I went out and invested in the proper equipment for the job and took some time to set up a system that worked for me, using it became almost effortless (and something that my geeky office-supplies-loving self actually wanted to use). The investment of time and money was well worth it.

As for getting things done – I swear by a system of long term and daily to do lists. It may take a bit more effort to use the lists, but I am must less stressed that I’m going to forget something, so I think it’s worth it.

I just left a detailed comment on April Dykman’s expense-tracking post from Monday.

I automate my retirement savings and that is it. BUT I have rituals for everything else:
1) I track all my expenses in a little notebook that goes everywhere with me.
2) Every payday I transfer a consistent amount of money into various accounts (short term savings (which later gets siphoned off into long-term savings), bills, mad money, travel, misc spending, etc.)
3) After I transfer my money around I write a little report listing all my balances in all my accounts. I send it in an email to myself and keep it in my mail folder – I have these going back to summer 2007 (when I started expense tracking) so I have a sketch of my net worth and how it’s changed.

I don’t have any debt so I don’t have to worry about snowballs and that other fun stuff.

I think this works for me because I’m a little more like Kris than I am like you!

There is a way you can do this and still take advantage of dollar cost averaging. I invest via Fidelity but I am sure the other big investment companies do this also…

Because of the way we are paid, I can’t put the same amount of money into my ROTH every month. I have months where the deposit is very small and then twice a year we put a large chunk in. What I do is deposit it all into what they call our “core” account – basically a money market account used to settle whatever trades I make. Then, I set up automatic purchases from that account on a quarterly basis. So, for example, say I put $1000 a year in my ROTH (just to keep the numbers straight forward). I just set up quarterly automated purchases of my chosen investments for $250. So, I am still able to put the money into my account when I need to based on our financial cycles but I am able to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. Nothing says you have to do it quarterly either…if all your money is in there in one chunk at tax time you could a set amount invested monthly…

I keep all my financial information in one excel spreadsheet per year.

One “page” contains long range (20 year) planning and investment predictions for my retirement, my kids’ future college, when my mortgage will be paid off. Each row is a year and then the categories across list my various assets/debts for each year. I’ve tried to plan out what each will be for the next 15-20 years but of course anything past 3 years is just estimating. But it’s helpful to see that the mortgage will eventually be paid off and what I can expect the kids’ college accounts to hold when they need that money.

Another “page” contains my net worth calculations for the current year, with each row being a month, and the same categories going across. It’s encouraging to enter in the data every month and see how my savings accounts and 401K are growing slowly each month, and how the house is slowly being paid off.

Another “page” in the excel spreadsheet lists everything I pay for using my credit card each month of the year, with one row per month and categories across listing about 50 different categories that I want to keep track of. I break this down into many different categories since I think this is where I can really save money if I just think about it.

Another “page” contains my total yearly spending worksheet with each row being one annual expenditure like the total gas or electric bill, total credit card bill, total cable bill, total daycare bill, annual car renewal, total mortgage payments, yearly magazine subscriptions, etc. If I sell something or make some extra money or get an income tax refund it goes into this list as a negative number. I use the total of this list to calculate my total annual cost of living and then I compare that with my total takehome pay for the year so I can calculate how much per month I should be taking from my pay to put automatically into savings. I like this list because I see the annual total of things I spend on, and I get to compare with how much I’m able to save–for example, I cringe when I see how much I pay for cable TV over the whole year and it’s tempting then to cancel the cable and dump that extra $1200 per year into my savings.

I focus only on tracking spending I have control over–ie my take home pay + income tax rebates. I don’t pay attention to taxes that are withheld from my paycheck because there’s nothing I can do about that. When I visit my accountant to get my taxes done each year, I get his input on what (if anything) I can do to mitigate my tax hit, but usually there’s not much. So I don’t worry about it.

In January of the new year, I copy all this to a new excel spreadsheet and update the 20 year plan with real numbers for the previous year. I try to estimate if things are going according to plan or if there’s something I can do better. I also look carefully to see if I saved as much as I’d hoped and if there’s anything I should do differently, like cancel the cable or switch to different cell plan or pay off my mortgage faster or whatever.

I use Mint just to check transactions on my credit card and from my bank accounts to make sure there’s nothing strange happening there. I don’t find Mint useful for other financial planning because it only gives you a blunted picture of your finances. For example, if “entertainment” is a lot of money, I want to know am I spending too much on my kids’ computer games? Or am I going to movies too much? So I like my spreadsheets because I can track those kinds of categories very easily.

As a hardcore TJ’s shopper, I can tell you that what you find at TJ’s is almost always cheaper than another store. There have been a few times where a good coupon + sale at a regular grocery store beat their price, but for the stuff they sell regularly, they offer the lowest price or they stop carrying it.

Produce may not be the best price, depending on seasonality and the size of your local major grocery store, but I buy that at the farmer’s market anyway.

@ 33 Ash – thanks for mentioning iGTD. Turns out the developer has joined the “Things” team and discontinued the program. However it’s still possible to download older versions of iGTD here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24288/igtd.

And “Things”, while selling for $50 (“49.95”) offers a trial download. So I have now two pieces of software to test, I hope they work.

—

ALSO was looking at Quicken for Mac (Essentials 2010), and almost bought it, but the reviews on Amazon are extremely harsh– apparently it’s a very sucky program worth about $5. Rather than pay $40 on Amazon or $50 at the Intuit site, I’ll try to squeeze more value out of “free” Mint.

If that plan fails, I’ll get Quicken **for Windows** (thank Steve for Bootcamp– ha!). Quicken for Windows appears to be the real deal– the Mac version won’t allow you to pay bills online, print checks or export data to TurboTax, among other things. Oy!

My savings are all automated. Every Wednesday and Friday, set $$ amounts disappear from my checking account courtesy of the cyber fairy.

I track expenses every day in an Excel spreadsheet. This one thing right here saves my financial life. I can see on one screen exactly where every penny goes and, by the same token, I can see where I’m wasting money and what I’m spending it on in general. Quick, simple, it works for me. Every week, I’m able to reduce spending waste a little bit more.

I started using the Autofocus system by Mark Forster this January when I decided I wanted to quit procrastinating on tasks and create an actual to do list that I could complete. GTD was more complicated than I was willing to keep up.
It is basically what JD is doing now with a couple variations on how you approach the list.
I heard about it on another forum and it has really worked well.

Don’t have time to read all the comments today, but I keep all my notes in Evernote (no, not affiliated with them in any way). You can download the app for major phone platforms and install it on multiple computers, so it will be updated anywhere you go. When something comes to mind, I jot it on my ‘to do’ list and then deal with it accordingly later. Love love love the program! Oh, and it’s FREE!

Financially, I have everything automated, but on a personal “get things done” productivity I am just now learning about a system new to me that makes a lot of sense.
this Ben Franklin system that has molded over the years into the Franklin Quest then Franklin Covey is a system that will eliminate all my little pieces of paper and help me link all my bits of information in a value based time management system. I have bought the elements on ebay at a great discount and am starting to work on identifying my values. Wow! what a great way to inventory where I am now and where I want to go and how to get there! I’m excited!!

This is making me crazy! Where did you hide the wallet? The fridge? The flour bin? The sock drawer? Don’t worry I am not going to steal your money, I have my own.

J.D.’s note: Ha. It’s nothing amazing. I hid it in the same drawer I always hide it. But I stood it on end and slit it behind some stuff, so in true J.D. fashion, I didn’t notice it the first dozen times I looked. I’m such an idiot.

Oh JD, I did the exact same thing when I got home from my 5 week holiday last year. It took me a few days to find my wallet again (hidden in the pocket of a skirt that was hanging up in my wardrobe – I wanted a less obvious spot than a drawer).

My cash flow got a bit messed up when I started my mortgage. I spent a few months transferring money all over the place until I got an automated system in place where my wages are swept into the right accout and I transfer enough cash to my everyday account to cover my mortgage deductions.

I am trying (still not 100% successful) to impelement a single handling policy, particularly on paperwork. That means I open up a bill, read it and then immediately go online and schedule its payment. No moving it to a “deal with later” pile.

As for all those little things you need to remember, i.e. need to take ‘x’ with me when I got visit Mom. I tried reversing my mental trigger. Instead of saying “I had better not forget to take that basket when I leave”. I would say to myself “When I leave, I am going to pick up that basket”. I mentally picture myself doing that and it seems to work.

The other thing I have tried is to always recognise and act on “I have a funny feeling I am forgetting something”. At least for my memory ability, about 95% of the time, when I get that feeling but leave the house anyway, it was actually my brain sending a message that I really was forgetting something and I’m 10mins down the road and I remember what it was. Now, if I get that feeling, I know it’s a sign and I wait until I figure it out.

When packing for trips, I have system where I mentally start at my feet, check what shoes/socks I have packed, move up to pants/skirts, then tops jackets etc.

I know everyone LOVES automation, because it’s obviously a great system. Being in a lot of school debt (whooohooo! I just paid off the last of my personal debt!!!), I can’t just sit back and relax and watch all my paychecks go to debt. I do not automate everything (only my emergency fund). But I have a very religious routine. I check every one of my accounts almost daily. I use my debit card for everything, which is tracked on mint if I want to see trends. I only have two categories in my actual budget really. Fun and rent. Everything else gets paid based on what I feel like paying/what debt repayment system I am using at the time. I allocate all of money right when I get paid to pay minimums on all loans, and as much as possible minus the fun budget, to the highest interest or lowest balance bill. It depends on what mood I am in at the time. My “fun budget” is a guess-timate of any miscellaneous spending for two weeks which is usually $150.00 or less. And I never feel bad about spending it when I do. So far, this system has worked great for me. I never overdraw, and I recently paid off my 3200 dollar credit card debt in 4 months, even though I had so many other bills to pay. It felt great. And the system works for me so it’s awesome even if it wouldn’t work for anyone else!

My system started 8 years ago when I took a position that pays once a month. At the time I was getting paid on the 10th, so I changed all of my bills due dates to be the 16th or later. On the 15th of every month I sit down and pay all of my bills. I now get paid on the 1st and I still pay all of my bills on the 15th. Any irregular bills that I receive go into my notebook (where I track my money) and it gets paid on the 15th too, regardless of its actual due date. That is of course as long as I am not paying it late.

For filing I use a simplified GTD system. I took the parts of his system that worked well for me and disregarded the rest.

Update: the install of old iGTD version (for Leopard) crashed repeatedly so i had to wipe it out. Now testing “Things” (for Mac); looks pretty advanced, and smart, and scalable. I have 15 days before I have to fork out $50 or stop using it. I’ll pay it if it’s worth it, but most organizing software is useless when faced with my colossal obliviousness.

Since we downsized to a 900 sq ft home, and still have lots of things packed in boxes out in a metal shop, I have been extremely disorganized. My office is a nightmare – I haven’t even filed my taxes in 2 years because my paperwork & receipts have been so disorganized. I feel completely overwhelmed by it. This is quite atypical of me – I hate that I am giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan. I usually by early March!

Hubby and I are finally getting serious about settling in and getting organized. We’re currently purging clutter, sorting what stays and goes, and have purchased some good second hand office furniture and ridding ourselves of the hodge podge mess that we currently have. I have been reading books on organizing and have following Unclutterer, planning methods and processes for getting and staying organized. Paperwork and files are particularly troublesome areas for me!

I cannot wait to get this place in order, living this way has really screwed up my equilibrium.

I like automating my bills as much as possible. Irks me that I still have to mail in checks for the trash removal because the Sanitation company won’t automate payments!

Hey, thanks to everyone for Outlook reminder suggestions, what a great idea. Maybe then I won’t need as many post-it notes.

I write my work shifts in my diary and include how much I’ll get paid using a pay rate lower than my actual rate to account for taxes.

The day before pay day I’ll write out a budget and estimate my pay. I’ll look through my diary for the next fortnight and make sure I’ve accounted for everything (appointments, special dinners out, birthday gifts etc). My phone bill is monthly and I fill my car up about once a month so I alternate these bills each fortnight.

I log into my online bank and add to my budget how much I was actually paid. I do my transfers and check the balances of all my accounts. Then I work out how much more I need to save until I’ve reached my goals.

Done and dusted, takes about 30 minutes.

RE : To-do lists

I am a chronic list maker and often redraft the same lists. I have a bought to-do list pad with check-boxes for university that I’ve divided by subjects. I also draw up a weekly plan detailing my university work, gym, social and work commitments for each day. I cross each item off the list as I complete them.

What you describe sounds like exactly getting things done for half of your life. Getting things done says record your to do list in one place that you can easily access, which you do, and prioritize often, which you do daily. The only critical part of getting things done that you haven’t done is have a single filing cabinet with everything and file things alphabettically. It you had that you’d know where to find you wallet. Under W of course. Its actually quite simple when you try it.

I enjoyed your post and agree that any system will work as long as it’s yours. Your own routine, your preferred method of automation, and of course, keep it simple. I’ve put my financial life into a single binder so I always have the important information at my fingertips. It works for me. Thanks for the post and have a great weekend.

Pretty much like #41, the bottom line is I pay my bills when I get paid through bill pay. Period, end of story. The only checks I write are for the occasional gift. Underpinning that system is a google spreadsheet which ties out to my daily bank balance. I’ve been doing this for so long that it literally takes me under a minute every day to check my bank, credit card (1), savings & stocks. Never late, never pay fees, and now it’s beyond habit, it’s an ADDICTION…LOL. I’m also a big fan of routine for things that I HAVE to do (this trumps my penchant for being a tad irresponsible), and for having one place for everything I need (keys, sunglasses, wallet, etc.). This cuts down on stress enormously. As for filing, which was driving me a little nuts, even though so much of what I do is paperless, you still need to save paperwork. So I went online to somebody’s website that told you what you needed to keep and gave a simple filing system to hold it all, and it’s working great for me who tends to be very organized only if it’s very logical and simple to do. I wish I remembered which site it was.

I too was initially overwhelmed by the Getting Things Done system. But I broke it down in to a few pieces that has really helped me get something in place that was been working for me.

Can it be improved? Definitely. But it’s something that is a living system and can be tweaked as my time permits.

Here’s my three step system in a nutshell:

1) Excel: I track and sort actions (with the columns: Project, Context, Priority, Action Description, Completed Date). I have one for home on my personal computer – and one for work on my work computer.

*I found that rewriting handwritten to-do list’s took up so much time. Excel makes it easy to insert new tasks and re-order priorities.

2) Google Calendar: I add reminders for days, months, even years in the future; recurring tasks/actions, appointments, birthdays, etc.

*I have the calendar send separate emails on a daily basis so I don’t always need to open the calendar.

3) Text Messaging to Email: I don’t have a fancy smartphone so I have a locked draft text message set with my email address. The draft starts with: “GTD: “.

*When I’m on the run, or away from my laptop, I quickly send a message to my email which I will then transfer to my Excel list.

I text my email several times a day. It is a great “notepad” and I find that it doesn’t keep my brain full of little things I need to remember. I send my self a quick text and when I get home and check my email I put the information in the appropriate place.

Yes! Sheila is exactly right. It’s really such a great “notepad” – and then you don’t have to remember… to remember!

I also text my email with pictures as well: sometimes in a hurry, it can take too long to type out the book title and ISBN number (so you can check to see if the library has it of course). A quick pic does the trick.

I text pictures as well. When I see something that inspires me (stained glass) and book covers, magazine pages… all kinds of stuff. Nice to know that someone else does it too, my family thinks I am crazy.

JD, I like these type of posts. I’ve ran into similar problems myself. I’ve tried a couple different systems for task management, but I always ended up letting them fall by the wayside. I’m a software developer and many of these systems didn’t seem to fit with the way software development happens. My favorite “system” ended up being a notebook like yours. It was easy to add new things and I only had one place to look. My biggest problem with the notebook was that I started to lose tasks I wrote down if I didn’t do them within that same day or if I moved onto the next page before one was done.

Result: A couple friends and I got together after work and created a task management web app that is simple like a notebook, is tailored more towards the needs of software developers, and has just a little more structure than a standard notebook. It has been such a lifesaver this year. You are so right about finding (or in my case, making) a system that works for you.

You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Syncs with Evernote, and also comes with mobile-web version, and Android and iPhone apps.

Finding that balance between automation and involvement is always hard. It IS the human element that gets in the way of the best laid plans. The best system is garbage if you don’t use it properly. I remember my daughter wanting a little day planner to hold all her stuff, take notes, schedule things, etc. It was going to make her world a better place. She got it, used it somewhat, for a while, and it faded away. Shortly after, she wanted one of the new PDAs (I’m dating myself) instead. This was going to to SO much better! I told her the same thing, that any system will work pretty well if you really do it right. It’s why every weight loss plan out there has real, true success stories – people who passionately believe in the system. Not every system is right for you, but most all of them are right enough for most of us – if used properly.

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My name is J.D. Roth. I started Get Rich Slowly in 2006 to document my personal journey as I dug out of debt. Then I shared while I learned to save and invest. Twelve years later, I've managed to reach early retirement! I'm here to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you get rich slowly. Read more.

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